Dubai is one of the top five countries with high levels of card fraud, according to statistics recently released by ACI Worldwide, an international provider of payment systems.

In 2010, 28 per cent of Dubai residents reported being a victim of card fraud, up by 75 per cent from the preceding year.

However, other countries have higher levels of financial crime, with China topping the list. About 44 per cent of Chinese consumers said they fell victim to card fraud.

The UK came second, with 33 per cent of its consumers saying they had encountered card fraud.

In the US, 31 per cent of the respondents surveyed admitted they were once victims of card fraud.

Growth factors

Among the Brazilian cardholders, 30 per cent reported unauthorised credit card transactions. Compared to Dubai, however, Italy has slightly lower levels of card fraud, as only 27 per cent of its consumers encountered it in the past five years.

"While card fraud is increasing in Dubai, it is important to keep in mind that it continues to do so everywhere, and there are a number of factors influencing this growth," Andrew Rochford, ACI's fraud and risk consultant for Middle East and Africa, told Gulf News.

ACI's 2010 Global Card Fraud Survey also revealed that 44 per cent of consumers in Dubai would change or consider swapping financial institutions following an incidence of card fraud, down from 52 per cent in 2009.

About 38 per cent of consumers in Dubai were unhappy with the treatment they received from their banks following an incident of card fraud, compared to 12 per cent in the US and 10 per cent in Australia. However, the figure for Dubai is actually an improvement over the previous year, when 61 per cent were unhappy.

The speed at which money was returned to the cardholder following fraud was the main reason for customer satisfaction (37 per cent), followed by the ability of financial institutions to identify the fraud before account holders (23 per cent).

About 25 per cent of the consumers also felt that more must be done by financial institutions to instill trust in their services.

Almost all of them (85 per cent) were unanimous that financial institutions could do better by contacting them on their mobile, either with a call or by SMS, if they notice suspicious activity on their card.